Ecosystem in a Bottle

While learning about how plants and animals depend on each other we created an ecosystem in a bottle. We created a pond complete with water plants and an aquatic snail. Then we created a land area with soil grass seed and pill bugs. The grass seed grew quickly by receiving water from the pond and the pill bugs ate the nutrients in the soil, while the aquatic snail ate the aquatic plants. This taught the students how a pond ecosystem works.

 

Flower Measurement

We used a large flower to measure ourselves and identify who was taller or shorter than the flower.
Then we painted 3 different size flowers and used Deanna Jump's recording sheet from here Spring math and literacy unit to identify which color flower was shorter or taller then the other flowers.

 

Plants

 

Flower Subtraction

We made our own flower story problems using our bodies and cloth flowers. The students also practiced writing the number sentence that went along with our stories as we acted them out.
Finally, the kids made their own flower story problems by drawing a picture and writing the number sentence that shows the problem they created.

Big Flower Measurement

I made a big flower that was a taller than most of my kids but still shorter than the rest. I think I need to cut some more of the stem off for next year because some of the kids were close to the same height and it was hard for them to tell if they were shorter or taller than the flower.This idea came from Kid Adist's Spring is Here Math and Literacy unit. Check her units out at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Flower Brace Map

We dissected real flowers, sorted and identified the parts. Then we created  a brace map to show the parts of a flower.

Flower Story Problems

We used stuffed flowers and our bodies to create and act out flower story problems. The kids made up problems like : I had 5 flowers and I picked 2 for my mom. Then I had 3 flowers left. After we acted out and discussed several problems the students made up thier own prolbems. They illustrated thier problems and wrote the problem. Then we came together and shared our problems. This activity worked out well for my English Language Learners to practice speaking in complete sentences. This idea came from Kim Adist Spring is Here Fun Math Activities and was altered a little with help from my former teammate April Larremore.

The Tiny Seed

We read The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. We wrote a chart together that told what hurt the seed and what helped the seed in the story. The children then chose one thing that helped the seed and one thing that hurt the seed to illustrate.